When we look at what had happened recently which involved security breaches on our borders which our security forces failed to prevent, it is obvious that during those unprecedented events, our existing security framework failed to intervene or even detect them before they escalated into crises. The three main aspects of security network we are looking at are airspace, sea and land.

1) National airspace

In the case of MH370, during the critical phase when it U-turned back into our national airspace as an ‘unidentified flying object’, none of our security forces succeeded in realising the magnitude of the event in which by protocol they should have intercepted it using our military air assets. There are no excuses for not being in 24-hour standby and being vigilant when it comes to protecting the national airspace.    

By civil aviation standards, the aircraft should be able to identify themselves via ‘transponders’ while entering into ‘controlled airspace’. Any intrusion in ‘controlled airspace’ should be dealt with within seconds. This is critical, else we risk a mid-air collision.

In MH370's case, the transponder failed to respond, the unknown aircraft was detected at some point while it was still within Malaysia airspace. In a hypothetical case, should this be an actual invasion (attack or spying) it would have been too late for us to carry out an earlier response before the damage was done.  In the case of spying, the enemy would have gathered critical intelligence right under our nose.

2) Border security (land)

The second security aspect is the land, in the case of the Rohingya mass graves in Perlis. They has been there for many years and yet had not been found by the ground patrols of our security forces. What is graver still is that these criminals, involving foreigners, have been operating the camps for many years.

A recent Special Branch report also stated that 80 percent of our officials at the border are allegedly corrupt. This has serious implications. Basically, our national border security has been crippled. Even within the forces themselves, being engulfed by corruption poses grave security risk threats to our nation.  We are vulnerable to immediate foreign attack should it happen.

What worries us is that this is just one case that has been discovered. What if there are more at other locations across the nation? Imagine the security concerns we have over in Sarawak where our borders are kilometres long. Can this be the vulnerable point should we face any potential attack? Will this then be the safe haven for any potential threats? We understand this is not an easy feat, but nevertheless the concerns are real.

3) Naval security (sea)

The third aspect is sea defence, in the case of the Sabah kidnappings. It is a fact that before the first kidnapping case occurred, we already had stationed security forces there. We even have drones as mentioned by Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek on Wednesday, equipped with high tech surveillance equipment.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/301364

Knowing the threat of kidnappings in Sabah, more military assets have been provided, in addition to existing assets. Yet still, the terrorists managed to breach our borders and perform the kidnappings with low tech equipment, speedboats for example.

I’m not undermining the competency and the capabilities of our military or security forces, but I would like to reiterate that there is an urgent need to reassess and restructure our existing military strategies. We need to take the Sabah kidnappings as a warning sign that our security over the waters can be easily compromised.

In this case, we are dealing with non-military threats, what if it is threats from another nation, well-equipped with military assets?

Conclusion

We have to scrutinise our military and take total revamp measures. The issues I have raised show clear signs that our national security is at stake. Our existing security net failed to prevent the aforementioned incidents from happening and these incidents threaten the sovereignty of our country. If tomorrow we are forced into war by a foreign threat of any kind, we know that our current military state may not be able to handle the threats.

With utmost respect for our security force I hope the government takes this criticism constructively. In a democratic country, as a member of the opposition, a deputy spokesperson for foreign affairs and defence, I’m duty bound to scrutinise our current defence framework in the interests of the nation.

JULIAN TAN KOK PING is Member of Parliament for Stampin and deputy spokesperson on foreign affairs and defence.